This invention relates to a device or system for the delivery and, more particularly, postoperative delivery, of local anesthesia to an operative site in a patient. This invention also relates to an associated method for the postoperative treatment of pain.
In conventional surgery, for example, surgery involving the removal of cancerous tissues, a local anesthetic is injected or otherwise applied to the operative site prior to incision closure. Such a local anesthetic is effective for at most approximately six hours. Thereafter, the patient must be given morphine or another drug which acts on the central nervous system for easing the inevitable pain. Morphine and the other drugs used for this purpose have many undesirable side effects including, for example, a loss of alertness, difficulty in breathing, interference with even simple daily movement, nausea, and, in some cases, possible addiction. Some patients suffer such post operative pain that proper breathing is inhibited, requiring respiratory therapy and often resulting in pneumonia.